Toe-weight



- (No Model.)

F. P. HAML'ET.

TOE WEIGHT.

I No.-534,329. Paten'fiedfFeB 19,1895.

Int/ini'ar UNITED, STATES PATENT UFFI E.

FRANCIS P. HAMLET, OF HEMPSTEAD, NEW YORK.

TOE-WEIGHT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 534,329, dated February 19, 1895.

Application filed July 11,1394. Serial No. 517,191. (no model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS P. HAMLET, of Hempstead, Queens county, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Toe-Weights, of which the followingis a specification.

My improvement relates to toe weights which are used upon the feet of horses, for the purpose of modifying their natural gaits.

The object of myimprovement is to provide a simple and inexpensive toe-weight which may be applied securely to a horses foot, without damaging the same.

I will describe a toe-weight embodying my improvement and then point out the novel features in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a top view of a block representing a horses foot or hoof, having applied to it a shoe and also a toe-weight embodying my improvement. Fig. '2 is a side view of the same. Fig. 3 is a rear view of a toe-weight. Fig. 4 is a central vertical section of a toe-weight. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section of a toe-weight. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a toe-weight of modified form.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures.

A designates a block representing a horses foot or hoof. B designates a shoe fastened thereto. This may be of any construction.

0 designates a toe-weight which may be made of metal, as for instance brass. It is suitably concaved on the back to conform to the front lower portion of a horses foot or hoof. Its front is generally spheroidal. On the lower portion of the foot or hoof it is provided with a spur or lug o for insertion between the front portion of the foot or hoof, and the opposite portion of the shoe. In its rear is a cavity 0'. At the sides, and communicating with the cavity 0 it has holes 0 c D',D represent rods provided at their ends with hooks d, d capable of engaging with holes in the side of the shoe B, or between projections extending from the shoe to the horses foot or hoof. These projections may for example consist of nails securing the shoe to the foot or hoof. The other ends of the rods D, I) are screw-threaded and passed through the holes o, c, into the cavity 0' of the toe-weight O.

holes may advantageously be rounded. The

portions of the nuts extending through the holes may advantageously be made polygonal,

so that they may be conveniently turned by means of any implement, such as a wrench or a pair of pinchers.

The rods may be made of plain wire, but if desirable they may be flattened intermediate of their ends, or at any desired portion, as indicated by Fig. 6, the advantages of thus fiattoning them being to enable them to bend so as toconform to different shaped feet or hoofs.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A toe weight having a rearwardly extending spuror lug at its lower portion and combined with screws extending from its sides and having shanks for securing the toe-weight to the sides of the foot or hoof, substantially as specified.

2. A'toe-weight having a rearwardly extending spur or lug at its lower portion and combined with screws having flat flexible shanks for securing the toe-weight to the sides of the foot or hoof, substantially as specified.

3. A toe-weight having a rearwardly extending spur or lug at its lower portion and combined with screws extending from its side and having shanks for securing the toe-weight to the sides of the foot or hoof, and nuts applied to the screws at the point where the screws pass into the toe weight, substantially as specified.

4. A toe-weight having a rearwardly extending spur or lug at its lower portion and combined with screws extending from its side and having shanks for securing the toe-weight to the sides of the foot or hoof, nuts applied to the screws at the point where the screws pass into the toe-weight, and rounded bearings in the toe-weight for the nuts, substantially as specified.

5. A toe-weight having a rearwardly extending spur or lug at its lower portion, screws extending from its sides, nuts having enlarged heads passing through holes in the sides of the toe-weight, the heads of the nuts being accommodated in a cavity at the rear of said toeweight, and the said screws engaging with said nuts, substantially as specified.

6. A toe-weight having a rearwardly extending spur or lug at its lower portion, screws extending from its sides, nuts having enlarged heads passing through holes in the sides of the toe-weight, the heads of the nuts being accommodated in a cavity at the rear of said toeweight, the said screws engaging with said nuts, the said nuts being made to extend r5 loosely through said holes to the outside of the toe-Weight, where they may be reached for the purpose of turning them, substantially as 

